Monthly Archives: November 2008

There are certain players in the history of hockey that become associated with one number. But some of those players we associate with a particular number that we think they have worn their whole career, may have in fact not always worn the number we think they did. I did some research into this and found some noteworthy players that have worn numbers that they were not and will not be remembered for. I did not count numbers worn in International games and All Star games due to the fact it would take waaayyy too much time and preseason game are out as well since, you know, they don’t count. So here is part 1 in alphabetical order…

Ed Belfour – #20

Wether playing for the Stars, Panthers, Maple Leafs, Sharks or even Leksands IF in Sweden I always remember Eddie the Eagle wearing number 20, a strange number for a keeper. But many of you may remeber, unlike myself, when he wore #30 for the Hawks from 1990-1994. But did you also know he wore #31 in 1989?

Ray Bourque – 77

Raymond Bourque, Boston legend. He will always be remembered wearing a #77 sweater for the Bruins, and to a lesser extent, the Avalanche. But I am not sure how many people know that he wore #7 from 1980-1988, only changing to double 7s when Phil Esposito’s #7 was retired by the Bs.

Martin Brodeur – #30

Our first active player on the list. Marty has been wearing #30 since his stellar rookie year of 1993-94 when he captured the Calder and heart of yours truly. But did you know that when he first came up he wore #29 for 4 games in 1992?

Paul Coffey – #77

After his first seven seasons in Edmonton, where he wore #7, he doubled it up in Pittsburgh to #77. He wore that number in many other stops except for Boston. There we switched to #74 for the 2000-2001 season, which was his last.

Rick DiPietro – #39

While a good keeper, he is no where near as accomplished as others on this list. I include him because everyone in the game knows how he is and that he signed a 15 year contract and is now 3 years into an injury plagued career under that contract. But from 2001-2003 DiPi wore #1.

Grant Fuhr – #31

Grant Fuhr was the backbone to the Oilers dynasty in the mid 80s and had is #31 sweater retired by the Oilers. He also wore the number at other stops in his Hall of Fame career. But from 1982 to 1983 he donned #1 for Edmonton while in net.